Forward Preface
by Nivrin
Summary: A trial, of sorts, for Adycus.


Upon arrival, all the memories of when he was alive rushed at him like flies upon a rotting corpse. The buildings were all in the same place mostly, save the park… Deathwing apparently claimed that fairly recently. His memory of the city from when he last visited in life became faulty because of the new additions, with the mass of boats coming and going at the docks and the lake out to the right of his position in air. Adycus sat atop his scaled crimson mount in mid air scouring what he once knew, thinking of where his target could be in the mess called Stormwind.

"So, you know your target then _'First Sergeant'_ ?" asked Aelzarra in a toying manner using his title from a previous life. She was in mid air near Adycus on her mount. It was up to her to oversee his proficiency in his art and to make sure he could do what he was known for doing; a test of his expertise, so to speak.

Adycus slowly turned his head to her and nodded crossly. Brief yet meaningful.

"Ok. Good. I expec-," Aelzarra stopped herself seeing Adycus not even pay attention to her talking. He was busy looking down at the ground. Not seconds later, before she could scold him for not looking at her while talking, Aelzarra watched as Adycus merely let go of his mount falling to the side purposely.

As he descended, Adycus slipped into the shadows and after around five seconds he finally hit the ground with knees bent and arms down to catch himself. The fall would kill most, if not for a protective bubble or levitation properties, but with his skill and class, it was something that came naturally.

Without a second thought, he stood, withdrew his notorious daggers and snuck away.

The hustle and bustle of Stormwind seemed to still be evident, as he remembered, in all forms. The idiots dancing half naked by the fountain, the immense egos being inflated by the mass dueling outside the gates, and even the less trained, lower seasoned ones roaming around asking, if not begging, for aid in whatever form it came - be it asking for an escort through miscellaneous places, of weaponry and armor, or in gold terms.

Adycus made a slight noise seeing all that, the sound almost mimicking that of a chuckle, but not quite. For nearly a half hour he scoured the city in search of his target. Finally, he saw a group of individuals that matched his target, so he followed them.

They rode their ram mounts methodically both embellishing their egos like the ones dueling and expressing their valor in their short stature. Sure they had numbers, which at times made them intimidating to some, and few were skilled at best, but if anything they were more laughable than most. This group was honored as a collective among the Horde at their consistency if anything, but laughed at behind the scenes as they were always easy prey and good for a slaughter – especially since they tried to attack the Horde on the same days of each and every week, making it more than easy to know what they were up to and why. Thankfully for Adycus, his target was towards the back of this hairy bunch.

Adycus drew close to the mark effortlessly, as these dwarves always strut slowly, as if craving the attention of others around them. They do get attention, be it to add to their numbers or be it those who mock them. Watching them in that moment, Adycus fought with himself. The decision tough.

On one hand, he could get it done quick and easy. The way most of his skill and class would do: kill and disappear before the alarms sounded. That was the usual method and always so clean. On the other hand, he could lure him away and actually have a bit of fun before killing his target, maybe even get a few other _heroes_ to go down with his kill. If Adycus' face could smile, there would be one.

He pulled out some type of poison, dipped a needle in it, and slipped around the mass of dwarves. He nimbly got behind his target and pricked his foot with the needle and then leapt back.

The dwarf rubbed his ankle and scratched the spot a little, as if bit by a mosquito or such and went right back to trying to look talented and daunting.

Adycus threw a distraction some distance away from the objective, yet close enough for him to notice. Notice he did.

The dwarf looked at the puff of smoke, but it transformed before his eyes. The smoke seemed to produce a small illusion to the dwarf, exactly what Adycus had planned by the poisonous prick. The dwarf ventured closer to it and watched as the illusion moved away every time he drew close. The movement was caused by Adycus throwing more distractions.

This went on until finally the dwarf dismounted and bent over to pick up the small Dun Murough cub he thought he saw. Adycus felt this was not good enough a spot for the kill, as there were two guards nearby. They were near Stormwind's entrance and near the docks down below. It would have to do.

Adycus stepped into the shadows and was suddenly right behind the dwarf with a single step. Adycus ambushed the dwarf as his presence was now quite evident. Blood gurgled from the dwarf's mouth as Adycus stood there, pale as could be, with his daggers inside the dwarf. The bearded target dropped dead, still clutching for his weapons, with a newly fashioned hole in his cape and back alike.

The two guards nearby roared in anger and ran at Adycus with their swords drawn. Adycus vanished from their sight, though since he never allowed any enemies to view even a shadow of his visage, he decided to take them out as well.

Adycus danced with both the shadows and the guards. While dodging the majority of their attacks, he landed his own. Just as he was about receive a major blow, Adycus hit one guard in the kidney, taking him out of the picture for a while as he finished off the non-stunned guard. While pulling his dagger out of the remaining guard's neck that was just stunned, he heard the alarms sound. Again he vanished. Still, if it were possible to see his face and to see his smile, it would be there.

Adycus leapt into the water and let himself sink to the bottom. He could barely hear the splashing of others above him and the faint sound of the alarms, but between the murkiness of the water and Adycus being under the veil of shadows, he knew he was safe.

After some time, he slipped out of the city, crawled atop his crimson mount and flew off to find Aelzarra.

"Good job. I am impressed, but I don't appreciate you not looking at me or even talking to me _'First Sergeant'_. That, I do know will change," sternly asserted Aelzarra.

Adycus shook his head no and stared at her.

Before Aelzarra could berate her new recruit with her fury for him disobeying, Adycus pulled down his mask.

Adycus stared at Aelzarra in his all undead glory, though one couldn't tell where his eyes looked. Between lacking a lower jaw and having two steel bars fused into his face in an 'X' fashion, he couldn't do more than just stare vaguely her way. Adycus pointed to himself and said, or at least attempted to say, "Ah-di-kuss." asserting he had a name, not just a title.

His listless tongue twitching against the roof of his mouth slowly making the noise combined with his overall visage seemed to be too much for the blood elf. She flew off both disgusted and guilt ridden by her own accusations. Yet again Adycus would have had a smile on his face… that is if his lower jaw wasn't missing.


End file.
